Some States See Rise In New COVID-19 Infections; Oklahoma Cases Declining

As COVID-19 vaccinations ramp up across the country, some states are seeing a rise in new infections.

"COVID-19 is not gone,” said Dr. Dale Bratzler, Chief COVID officer for OU Health. “And in parts of the country, particularly the northeast, Michigan, Minnesota, Florida, there have been big increases in the number of cases."

In fact, the state of Michigan is reporting a 124 percent increase in cases the past two weeks. Other northeastern states are also reporting increases.

Dr. Bratzler said people across the country and here in Oklahoma should stay vigilant.

"We can't let our guard down,” he said. “We've seen it happen before. Cases go up on the coasts and that slowly trickles into middle America."

Oklahoma currently ranks 45th in the country in the number of new cases, with a steady decline since January.

Bratzler believes there are several reasons for that, including Oklahoma's success in rolling out the vaccine quicker than many other states.

He said some parts of the country have also reported more variants and mutations of the virus.

"There are more variants in parts of the country. Particularly in the northeast,” he said. “They've seen a lot more of the UK variant which as you know is more transmissible between people who aren't vaccinated."

Oklahoma has reported five different variants so far but none in high numbers.

Bratzler said Oklahoma's warmer climate and less dense population may also be factors as well.